Subterranean Solar Panels?

What a novel idea!

“EarthSure, (http://www.earth-sure.com) a renewable energy company and innovator in alternative energy sources announced today the company`s latest patent-pending renewable energy invention. Subterranean Solar, or SubSolar, is a unique and innovative system of utilizing `subterranean solar panels” to gather solar power.

No unsightly above ground solar panels need to be used anymore. Currently, solar panels are secured on rooftops or other open spaces. Depending upon the size of the solar module system, this can require large areas of space, and more times than not, this intrudes upon space that can be utilized more efficiently and effectively. SubSolar panels are installed underneath the ground, virtually invisible to the naked eye.

How Does It Work? A compact optical device is installed upon a rooftop or other sunlight-catching environment. This optical device captures and magnifies the sun`s rays and transfers the sunlight from its linear or cylindrical lenses though fiber-optic lines leading down into an underground storage of solar panel modules.

The subterranean solar panels are buried approx 3-4 feet underground and are encased in cylindrical tubes or in a semi-hermetically sealed box (or boxes made out of PVC that are in a vacuum chamber atmosphere) which will utilize the ultimate light absorption in the box light vacuum chamber that encapsulates the solar panel modules.

Other than the compact optical device, the solar system is practically invisible. This system keeps unsightly panels and fixtures from effecting the aesthetics of homes and commercial or industrial buildings. Always out of sight, but never out of free energy potential!

Another benefit of utilizing SubSolar underground solar panels is that it keeps the equipment out of the elements, elements which can damage the panels and decrease the life span of the equipment. Underground chambers will always stay clean and pristine to aid in better electrical output and eradicate poor performance associated with contaminated modules, making them virtually maintenance free. Also, being under the earth`s surface, the solar modules naturally remain cooler, which in turn makes them more productive, preventing overheating for more consistent electrical output.” – Source

In Exploration, Risk of Death is part of the JOB!

“Rand Simberg, a former aerospace engineer finds the report a little too innocuous. In this analysis, Simberg asks, what happens when we take the risk out of space travel?

… Aerospace pioneer Burt Rutan said a few years ago that if we’re not killing people, we’re not pushing hard enough.

That might sound harsh to people outside the aerospace community but, as Rutan knows, test pilots and astronauts are a breed of people that willingly accepts certain risk in order to be part of great endeavors.

They’re volunteers and they know what they’re getting into.” – Source

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Documentary Heaven was set up early July 2009 to provide the public with a vast collection of documentaries spanning across every genre out there. We intend on continuously updating the site on a daily basis to bring you nothing but the very best.

We understand that the internet can be a very interesting place filled with much to do, but have you ever had one of those days where there seems to be absolutely nothing amongst that vast collection of websites out there that could possibly interest you?

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Levitating Mice

Wow, using the water in in a living organism to provide magnetic lift…how novel!

“Scientists working on behalf of NASA built a device to simulate variable levels of gravity. It consists of a superconducting magnet that generates a field powerful enough to levitate the water inside living animals, with a space inside warm enough at room temperature and large enough at 2.6 inches wide (6.6 cm) for tiny creatures to float comfortably in during experiments.

Repeated levitation tests showed the mice, even when not sedated, could quickly acclimate to levitation inside the cage. After three or four hours, the mice acted normally, including eating and drinking.

The strong magnetic fields did not seem to have any negative impacts on the mice in the short term, and past studies have shown that rats did not suffer from adverse effects after 10 weeks of strong, non-levitating magnetic fields.

“We’re trying to see what kind of physiological impact is due to prolonged microgravity, and also what kind of countermeasures might work against it for astronauts,” Liu said. “If we can contribute to the future human exploration of space, that would be very exciting.”

They are now applying for funding for such research with their levitator. The researchers also levitated water drops up to 2 inches wide (5 cm). This suggests the variable gravity simulator could be used to study how liquids behave under reduced gravity, such as how heat is transferred or how bubbles behave.” – Source

Magnetic Portals Connect Sun and Earth

Keep in mind the ‘uncompleted’ Unified Field Theory which shows a connection between magnetism, gravity, electricity and inertia. Star Gate anyone?

“During the time it takes you to read this article, something will happen high overhead that until recently many scientists didn’t believe in. A magnetic portal will open, linking Earth to the sun 93 million miles away.

Tons of high-energy particles may flow through the opening before it closes again, around the time you reach the end of the page. “It’s called a flux transfer event or ‘FTE,'” says space physicist David Sibeck of the Goddard Space Flight Center. “Ten years ago I was pretty sure they didn’t exist, but now the evidence is incontrovertible.”

Researchers have long known that the Earth and sun must be connected. Earth’s magnetosphere (the magnetic bubble that surrounds our planet) is filled with particles from the sun that arrive via the solar wind and penetrate the planet’s magnetic defenses. They enter by following magnetic field lines that can be traced from terra firma all the way back to the sun’s atmosphere.

“We used to think the connection was permanent and that solar wind could trickle into the near-Earth environment anytime the wind was active,” says Sibeck. “We were wrong. The connections are not steady at all.

They are often brief, bursty and very dynamic.” Several speakers at the Workshop have outlined how FTEs form: On the dayside of Earth (the side closest to the sun), Earth’s magnetic field presses against the sun’s magnetic field. Approximately every eight minutes, the two fields briefly merge or “reconnect,” forming a portal through which particles can flow. The portal takes the form of a magnetic cylinder about as wide as Earth.

The European Space Agency’s fleet of four Cluster spacecraft and NASA’s five THEMIS probes have flown through and surrounded these cylinders, measuring their dimensions and sensing the particles that shoot through.

“They’re real,” says Sibeck. Space physicist Jimmy Raeder of the University of New Hampshire presented one such simulation at the Workshop. He told his colleagues that the cylindrical portals tend to form above Earth’s equator and then roll over Earth’s winter pole. In December, FTEs roll over the north pole; in July they roll over the south pole. Sibeck believes this is happening twice as often as previously thought.

“I think there are two varieties of FTEs: active and passive.” Active FTEs are magnetic cylinders that allow particles to flow through rather easily; they are important conduits of energy for Earth’s magnetosphere. Passive FTEs are magnetic cylinders that offer more resistance; their internal structure does not admit such an easy flow of particles and fields.

(For experts: Active FTEs form at equatorial latitudes when the IMF tips south; passive FTEs form at higher latitudes when the IMF tips north.) Sibeck has calculated the properties of passive FTEs and he is encouraging his colleagues to hunt for signs of them in data from THEMIS and Cluster.

“Passive FTEs may not be very important, but until we know more about them we can’t be sure.” There are many unanswered questions: Why do the portals form every 8 minutes? How do magnetic fields inside the cylinder twist and coil? – (Thanks to Jim Tanner for the headsup about these portals. – JWD)” – Source

Double power from Coal with less Emissions

Why doesn’t the government push to get this installed in all coal burning plants ASAP?

“A UNIVERSITY of Queensland scientist said yesterday he had successfully tested technology that delivers twice the power from coal while minimising greenhouse gas emissions. Professor John Zhu, of the school of chemical engineering, created a series of direct carbon fuel cells (DCFC) in which burning coal generates highly energy-efficient electricity.

”The very high-energy efficiency of the new technology will effectively halve the amount of coal required to create electricity,” he said. ”When applied, it will provide industry with very significant cost and energy savings, which could then be passed on to the consumer.

In addition to saving cost and energy, the direct carbon fuel cells will also provide clean power.” He said he expected the fuel cells would enable the byproduct of coal-fired power – the harmful greenhouse gas carbon dioxide – to be trapped and stored easily and safely.

”One of the major challenges for coal-fired power is reducing its impact on the environment by developing ways to separate carbon dioxide from other gases produced in the power generation process, and ensuring it is not released into the atmosphere,” he said. ”The DCFC produces pure carbon dioxide as a byproduct, making it much easier to manage.” – Source

Solar thermal put to the test in Bakersfield

The future of solar, at least I think so, is in these parabolic tracking mirrors that concentrate heat to drive thermal motor/generators.

“An operator at the Kimberlina solar thermal plant near Bakersfield clicked on an electric motor, and a quarter-mile-long row of 10 mirrors began rotating upside down. Like a laser beam, the sunlight reflected by the mirrors swept across the bodies of a group of employees standing 50 feet away. The flash of light was blinding even through sunglasses. Heat nearly hot enough to burn skin could be felt through a layer of clothing.

Just moments before, those mirrors had concentrated the sun’s energy on a water pipe perched 50 feet overhead. The mirrors along with lenses magnify the heat of the sun 50 times; the steam that forms turns turbines that produce 3 megawatts of electricity.

Experimental plant – Ausra’s Kimberlina plant is a miniature version of the solar thermal plant the company is planning to build on the Carrizo Plain. That plant will be nearly 60 times larger than the Kimberlina one and will be the largest such solar thermal plant in the world, said McIntosh, Ausra’s vice president of operations.” – Source

Water Shortage In Mexico Turning Into Food Crisis

California and Australia have lately been making the headlines for drought problems. But Mexico is facing the worst drought it has seen in the last 69 years. That on top of the already existing water crisis, precipitated by terrible water management, is beginning to push things over the edge. Corn, wheat and other crops are faring badly, and officials are actually hoping to see a hurricane hit soon just so a looming food crisis might be averted. – Source

Sudbury man uses hybrid car to provide electricity

One of the beauties of having a hybrid car, it can be your emergency power source if house power goes out.

“Fall is in the air and if New Englanders lose power this winter as more than one million homes and businesses did in last December’s ice storms, energy conservationist and Sudbury resident, Dean Holden, won’t be left out in the cold. He will power some of his home with his Toyota Prius and save money and energy, too.

After his friends used their hybrids when the storm weighed down power lines, Holden read on the Internet how to use his Prius as a generator. “Generators pollute the environment and are more costly to operate,” said Holden.

“They have to be filled with gas about every eight hours,” said Holden, president of Sustainable Sudbury, a chapter of Massachusetts Climate Action Network, an environmentally focused nonprofit organization. “One of my friends hooked up his Prius for three days, without interruption, and only used a half of a tank of gas.”

After investing in a 1,000-watt inverter, which converts the DC power from the car into AC current for his home, Holden took four circuits out of the main panel in his garage and put them in a second panel. When the power goes off, he will switch off the main panel box with a toggle switch to isolate the four circuits and prevent a repairman from getting injured, Holden said.

“The inverter draws energy from the hybrid’s auxiliary 12-volt battery, which gets recharged from the main 230 volt battery, allowing us to use the refrigerator, lights in the kitchen and dining room and watch television,” he said.

“People can use a regular DC power supply even in other cars, but the Prius, which was made to idle, is ideal and clean burning,” said Holden. “It’s best to run the car outdoors.” To save more money, Holden offered a few more tips.

He suggested using fluorescent light bulbs, turning off the lights and the coffee pot. “When you leave the coffee pot on, it wastes 1,000 watts,” said Holden. “It’s like having the whole house lit with electricity. Now they make them so you can pour the coffee into an insulated jug.” – Source

ZERO – The Italian 9/11 Investigation

Watch this if you have the time, even if you don’t, MAKE the time;

“On the anniversary of 9/11, an Italian-produced documentary called ZERO, investigating the tragedy, is opening in Russia. The authors believe that the U.S. official version of events surrounding the attacks can’t be true. U.S. networks have rejected the film…” (Thanks to KatMan for the headsup. – JWD) – Source